Whether she did or not, Elsie waited alone for Nina and hummed softly to herself. Her hands, thin enough that the bones jutted out, gripped the supplies with quiet resolve.

She took out the painting tools she had kept covered with a cloth to keep off the dust.

“My lady, I’ll come in.”

“Come in.”

A knock, then the door opened slightly, and Nina’s careful voice followed.

“My lady, let me carry that.”

Seeing Elsie gathering her supplies, Nina hurried to her side.

“Do it together with me.”

“But……”

“It’s easier on my mind that way.”

Nina’s round eyes met Elsie’s. At the clear warmth in her smile, Elsie gave her a comfortable smile in return.

Nina was one of the few people in the estate who didn’t resent her.

“It’s a square canvas today.”

“It caught my eye today, so I took it out. Shall we go?”

The mistress of the Grey estate stepped outside with only a single maid in tow.

Elsie carried a basket of painting supplies in her hand.

It was far from what anyone would expect of the mistress of the Grey household, and the looks that followed her and Nina were not kind.

For a time, Elsie had not left her room at all, surviving on porridge and small amounts of fruit. There were several reasons for that, and this unpleasant scrutiny was a large part of it.

“There she is again……”

“Poor Nina. Seems she still hasn’t broken her old habits.”

“Must miss the days of ordering people around as a noble.”

“Shouldn’t she be managing the estate? Just throwing money away for nothing. No wonder things went the way they did. All she ever does is play.”

The murmuring at the edges of her hearing made her dizzy.

Her vision swam, but Elsie did not stop walking.

My origins aren’t something I can change.

Elsie Resleth.

Daughter of House Resleth.

Before she became Mrs. Grey, her name had carried a great deal of history.

House Resleth had long enjoyed wealth and honor, and was once counted among the most distinguished families in the country.

But in the collapse of the monarchy, they became objects of public ridicule and met a wretched end.

“My lady, are you all right?”

She felt Nina’s worried gaze.

Elsie nodded.

Her lower lip, where she had bitten down hard, had filled with blood.

Stepping outside through the back gate, she felt a cool breeze. A gentle wind carrying the scent of flowers moved through her, and the headache seemed to ease.

“Are we going to the same place as last time?”

“Yes.”

Elsie tilted her wide-brimmed hat up slightly and climbed the small hill at an easy pace.

The modest hill tucked within the garden was the only place in the Grey estate she genuinely liked.

Reaching the top, the neatly tended garden spread out before her in full view.

The sun shone brightly over it all. The light-filled scene pleased her, and Elsie opened her basket with a rare lift of spirit.

A new tin tube held the blue oil paint that was said to be difficult to produce.

“The brush feels softer than last time.”

“Yes. I changed it. There was an inexpensive one available…… I was lucky.”

The only thing Elsie spent her own money on was painting supplies.

Even so, she was far from extravagant. She made her way through various art shops and bought the cheapest tools she could find.

She only discarded them once they had worn down to the point of being unusable.

“You have no interest in accessories or dresses, my lady. But you buy art supplies, so couldn’t you spend a little more on those?”

Elsie settled into the small wooden folding chair and picked up her palette.

She looked at the clear sky, then at the flowers swaying in the breeze, then shifted her gaze to the blank canvas and shook her head.

“……I don’t deserve that.”

The tip of the brush in her hand was trembling. It was different from the way she moved when preparing to paint without hesitation.

“My lady……”

At the maid’s soft sound of distress, Elsie said nothing more.

The brush, which had been roughly working the oil-mixed paint, moved to the canvas. But that was all.

Not a single mark appeared on the pale beige surface.

Her hand wouldn’t move. Because the woman she had seen yesterday had come into view.

Beside her, Kaiden looked unmistakably happy.

Seeing it, her hand went still in a way she couldn’t explain.

“My lady?”

Sensing something was wrong, Nina stepped closer to Elsie, parasol in hand.

“Are you all right?”

“Mm.”

Cold sweat beaded along her smooth forehead.

Elsie moved her hand again. The brush, tipped with blue, hovered just at the edge of the canvas.

Then she bent forward with a sharp breath and dropped her head.

“My lady, let’s go inside. I think today might not be……”

“It’s been a while, my lady.”

Nina was about to close the parasol at the sight of Elsie going pale, when a man in overalls came up the hill.

The man with the notably round nose and square jaw was Parker Blair, the gardener.

“You haven’t been out in some time.”

“……It has been a while. Blair.”

Elsie set down her brush. Like Nina, Parker was someone who didn’t look at her with contempt.

She gave him a weary greeting and rose from her seat.

Her gaze landed one last time on the woman laughing happily at Kaiden’s side, then finally pulled away.

She would have to ask Kaiden for a divorce again.

Thinking that, Elsie swallowed back tears.

“Shall we go?”

She forced the corners of her mouth upward, but the expression looked close to breaking, and both Nina and Parker fell silent.

She walked back to her bedroom with none of the energy she had climbed the hill with.

***

Kaiden Grey was consumed with drawing up the next training schedule.

After the revolution’s success and the transformation of Midland into the New Midland Federal Republic, his contributions had been recognized, and he was summoned daily to the strategic planning council that was shaping the future of New Midland alongside the new leadership.

“This is maddening.”

So much to do, and not enough hours.

Managing the military alone wasn’t enough. He had to keep track of urban reconstruction and weigh in on various policies as well.

It was a punishing schedule for a mere colonel.

Kaiden dragged a hand roughly through his hair and pressed the pen nib into the ink.

On top of everything, the movements of Druelsha, the neighboring country still in a state of ceasefire, were growing unsettling.

To prepare for that, every unit was in the middle of intensive training without a moment’s rest.

“Wouldn’t you like to take a short break?”

Jasper Robert, the steward managing the Grey household’s affairs, refilled the empty teacup and asked.

“You seem to be pushing yourself.”

“That’s because Father handed me an unreasonable schedule. Without that, it would have been manageable.”

At Kaiden’s cool reply, the corner of Jasper’s mouth curved upward.

“Surely it’s his way of showing care and consideration for a beloved son.”

“That?”

Kaiden scoffed.

He had been all for the marriage to Elsie Resleth once, and now he was pushing someone else in front of him.

The problem was that Elsie’s usefulness had run out……

“Let’s divorce.”

The words Elsie had said came to him without warning.

Last night had been strange.

He had never once imagined Elsie would be the one to say divorce to him.

So her words about loving him had been nothing but whims and noble games after all.

Either way, the moment those small lips parted and shaped the word divorce.

Something twisted in him, strangely.

“As it happens, Miss Eleanor Underwood has sent an invitation. It appears to be an invitation to visit the aerial garden now that the renovations are complete.”

Jasper set a neat envelope on the desk.

“……Throw it away. I don’t need it.”

Kaiden said it without glancing in that direction. The words carried unmistakable irritation, and Jasper slid the invitation toward him.

“Father’s hand in this again.”

“Yes.”

“Haa……”

He couldn’t very well burn the invitation outright. Kaiden let out a quiet sigh, rose from his seat, and moved to the window.

During the walk he hadn’t wanted to take, other thoughts had been running through his mind. The garden he had taken care to design was filled with the flowers Elsie liked.

Perhaps that was why, throughout the walk, memories had surfaced of the past, when he had scrambled to win her over with trivial things like flowers.

Kaiden had been desperate then.

“That’s……”

Beyond the window, in the distance, three figures moved through the garden at a leisurely pace.

Her curling hair had gone a deeper shade of red in the sunlight.

On either side of Elsie stood a gardener and a maid, both carrying something in their hands.

Only Elsie was empty-handed.

That woman never changes.

The thought came to him unbidden. That reckless woman had never once done anything on her own.

Kaiden’s jaw tightened. It flexed once and settled back, but the anger in it remained.

That was the kind of woman Elsie was. Her father was merely a count, yet she had lived in his shadow, enjoying a status she had done nothing to earn.

There had been a time when he envied that obliviousness. And another time when it had seemed almost beautiful in its innocence.